I have always believed that being creative benefits children’s development. In my house, the kitchen is one of our favorite places for creative exploration. It’s also a natural place for me to teach my kids new things. Baking is a fun way for my 3-year-old son Rocky to learn shapes, letters, numbers, and objects. With my kindergartener, Charlotte, I’ve found that baking gives us the opportunity to talk about so much more than ingredients and recipes — whatever is on her mind, really, from school to friendships. Baking is also a great way for us to work on math and reading skills.

Of course, it’s easier to motivate my kids to bake cookies than anything else. So why not have some extra fun while we’re whipping up a batch? Here are my favorite ways to be creative with cookies…StampingWho would’ve thought that a craft stamp makes for a great baking tool? I had this star rubber stamp (food safe, too!) lying around my house. I cut my cookies with a round cutter, then took the stamp and pressed firmly into the center of the unbaked dough. The result: A pretty star cookie!

StencilingFor this all you need is an art stencil (I used an alphabet stencil), natural food coloring, and a paintbrush. Take your baked sugar cookies out of the oven. Once the cookies have cooled place the stencil in the center of the cookie, dip your paintbrush into the food coloring, and paint in the opening of the stencil. Lift the stencil to reveal your creation!

Frosting and SprinklesIt’s hard not to love a classic frosted sugar cookie. For this we used my Foodstirs Organic Vanilla Frosting and added a few drops of natural red food dye. Once the sugar cookies cooled, we let the kids get involved with the frosting. For the final touch, I added sprinkles on top. Sometimes you just have to keep it old school with a classic frosted sugar cookie.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is our November 2015 guest editor. This month, the Emmy-winning actress, who is best known for her role as Buffy Summers on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” launches Foodstirs, a line of all-natural baking mixes, along with her business partners, Galit Laibow and Gia Russo.

Mostly recently, she appeared in the CBS comedy “The Crazy Ones,” opposite Robin Williams. (You may also remember her from the CW’s “Ringer” and ABC’s “All My Children”.) Additionally, the New York native has been in films such as The Grudge, The Grudge 2, Scooby Doo and Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, and Cruel Intentions.

Off-screen, Gellar lends her time and support to children’s charities and organizations, including No Kid Hungry, Baby Buggy, Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the nonprofit organization CARE. She’s also an advocate for breast cancer awareness and participated in Ford's 2003 'Tied to the Cause' campaign benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. And, she’s involved with Habitat for Humanity and Planned Parenthood.

Gellar resides in Los Angeles with her husband of 13 years, Freddie Prinze, Jr., and their children, Charlotte, 6, and Rocky, 3.